1Now when Festus had come to the province, after three days he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. 2Then the high priest and the chief men of the Jews made a statement to him against Paul; and they petitioned him, 3asking a favor against him, that he would summon him to Jerusalem; while they lay in ambush along the road to kill him. 4But Festus answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself was going there shortly. 5Therefore, he said, let those who have authority among you go down with me and accuse this man, whatever there might be in him. 6And when he had remained among them more than ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day, sitting on the judgment seat, he commanded Paul to be brought. 7And when he had come, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around and brought many serious complaints against Paul, which they were not able to prove. 8Defending himself he said, Neither against the Law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I trespassed in anything at all. 9But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be judged before me concerning these things? 10Then Paul said, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you very well know. 11For if I have done wrong, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not refuse to die; but if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar. 12Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, You have appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you shall go. 13And after some days King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to greet Festus. 14And when they had been there many days, Festus set forth Paul's case before the king, saying: There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix, 15about whom the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, when I was in Jerusalem, asking for a judgment against him. 16To them I answered, It is not the custom of the Romans to deliver any man to destruction before the accused meets the accusers face to face, and has opportunity to make a defense concerning the charge against him. 17Therefore when they had come together, without any delay, the next day I sat on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought in. 18When the accusers stood up, they brought no accusation against him of such things as I supposed, 19but had some questions against him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who had died, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. 20And because I was uncertain of such questions, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these matters. 21But when Paul appealed to be reserved for the decision of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I could send him to Caesar. 22Then Agrippa said to Festus, I also would like to hear the man myself. Tomorrow, he said, you shall hear him. 23So the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had come with great pomp, and had entered the auditorium with the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at Festus' command Paul was led out. 24And Festus said: King Agrippa and all the men who are here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole assembly of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying out that he was not fit to live any longer. 25But when I found that he had committed nothing deserving of death, and that he himself had appealed to Augustus, I decided to send him. 26But I have nothing certain to write to my lord concerning him. Therefore I have brought him out before you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the examination has taken place I may have something to write. 27For it seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner and not to specify the charges against him.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 FESTUS, COMING TO JERUSALEM, DECLINES TO HAVE PAUL BROUGHT THITHER FOR JUDGMENT, BUT GIVES THE PARTIES A HEARING ON HIS RETURN TO CĆSAREA--ON FESTUS ASKING THE APOSTLE IF HE WOULD GO TO JERUSALEM FOR ANOTHER HEARING BEFORE HIM, HE IS CONSTRAINED IN JUSTICE TO HIS CAUSE TO APPEAL TO THE EMPEROR. (
Acts 25:1-
Acts 25:12)
Festus . . . after three days . . . ascended . . . to Jerusalem--to make himself acquainted with the great central city of his government without delay.
2 Then the high priest--a successor of him before whom Paul had appeared (
Acts 23:2).
and the chief of the Jews--and "the whole multitude of the Jews" (
Acts 25:24) clamorously.
informed him against Paul . . .
3 desired favour--in
Acts 25:15, "judgment."
against him--It would seem that they had the insolence to ask him to have the prisoner executed even without a trial (
Acts 25:16).
laying wait . . . to kill him--How deep must have been their hostility, when two years after the defeat of their former attempt, they thirst as keenly as ever for his blood! Their plea for having the case tried at Jerusalem, where the alleged offense took place, was plausible enough; but from
Acts 25:10 it would seem that Festus had been made acquainted with their causeless malice, and that in some way which Paul was privy to.
4 answered that Paul should be kept--rather, "is in custody."
at Cćsarea, and . . . himself would depart shortly thither.
5 Let them . . . which among you are able, go down--"your leading men."
7 the Jews . . . from Jerusalem--clamorously, as at Jerusalem; see
Acts 25:24.
many and grievous complaints against Paul--From his reply, and Festus' statement of the case before Agrippa, these charges seem to have been a jumble of political and religious matter which they were unable to substantiate, and vociferous cries that he was unfit to live. Paul's reply, not given in full, was probably little more than a challenge to prove any of their charges, whether political or religious.
9 Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure--to ingratiate himself with them.
said, Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and . . . be judged . . . before me--or, "under my protection." If this was meant in earnest, it was temporizing and vacillating. But, possibly, anticipating Paul's refusal, he wished merely to avoid the odium of refusing to remove the trial to Jerusalem.
10 Then said Paul, I stand at Cćsar's judgment seat--that is, I am already before the proper tribunal. This seems to imply that he understood Festus to propose handing him over to the Sanhedrim for judgment (and see on
Acts 25:11), with a mere promise of protection from him. But from going to Jerusalem at all he was too well justified in shrinking, for there assassination had been quite recently planned against him.
to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou knowest very well--literally, "better," that is, (perhaps), better than to press such a proposal.
if there be none of these things . . . no man may deliver me unto them--The word signifies to "surrender in order to gratify" another.
11 I appeal to Cćsar--The right of appeal to the supreme power, in case of life and death, was secured by an ancient law to every Roman citizen, and continued under the empire. Had Festus shown any disposition to pronounce final judgment, Paul, strong in the consciousness of his innocence and the justice of a Roman tribunal, would not have made this appeal. But when the only other alternative offered him was to give his own consent to be transferred to the great hotbed of plots against his life, and to a tribunal of unscrupulous and bloodthirsty ecclesiastics whose vociferous cries for his death had scarcely subsided, no other course was open to him.
12 Festus--little expecting such an appeal, but bound to respect it.
having conferred with the council--his assessors in judgment, as to the admissibility of the appeal.
said, Hast thou--for "thou hast."
to Cćsar shalt thou go--as if he would add perhaps "and see if thou fare better."
13 HEROD AGRIPPA II ON A VISIT TO FESTUS, BEING CONSULTED BY HIM ON PAUL'S CASE, DESIRES TO HEAR THE APOSTLE, WHO IS ACCORDINGLY BROUGHT FORTH. (
Acts 25:13-
Acts 25:27)
King Agrippa--great-grandson of Herod the Great, and Drusilla's brother (see on
Acts 24:24). On his father's awful death (
Acts 12:23), being thought too young (seventeen) to succeed, Judea, was attached to the province of Syria. Four years after, on the death of his uncle Herod, he was made king of the northern principalities of Chalcis, and afterwards got Batanea, Iturea, Trachonitis, Abilene, Galilee, and Perea, with the title of king. He died A.D. 100, after reigning fifty-one years.
and Bernice--his sister. She was married to her uncle Herod, king of Chalcis, on whose death she lived with her brother Agrippa--not without suspicion of incestuous intercourse, which her subsequent licentious life tended to confirm.
came to salute Festus--to pay his respects to him on his accession to the procuratorship.
14 when there many--"several"
days, Festus declared Paul's cause--taking advantage of the presence of one who might be presumed to know such matters better than himself; though the lapse of "several days" ere the subject was touched on shows that it gave Festus little trouble.
16 to deliver any man to die--On the word "deliver up," see on
Acts 25:11.
18 as I supposed--"suspected"--crimes punishable by civil law.
19 questions . . . of their own superstition--rather, "religion" (see on
Acts 17:22). It cannot be supposed that Festus would use the word in any discourteous sense in addressing his Jewish guest.
one Jesus--"Thus speaks this miserable Festus of Him to whom every knee shall bow" [BENGEL].
whom Paul affirmed--"kept affirming."
to be alive--showing that the resurrection of the Crucified One had been the burden, as usual, of Paul's pleading. The insignificance of the whole affair in the eyes of Festus is manifest.
20 because I doubted of such manner of questions--The "I" is emphatic. "I," as a Roman judge, being at a loss how to deal with such matters.
21 the hearing of Augustus--the imperial title first conferred by the Roman Senate on Octavius.
22 I would also hear--"should like to hear."
the man myself--No doubt Paul was fight when he said, "The king knoweth of these things . . . for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner" (
Acts 26:26). Hence his curiosity to see and hear the man who had raised such commotion and was remodelling to such an extent the whole Jewish life.
23 when Agrippa was come, and Bernice, with great pomp--in the same city in which their father, on account of his pride, had perished, eaten up by worms [WETST].
with the chief captains--(See on
Acts 21:32). JOSEPHUS [Wars of the Jews, 3.4.2] says that five cohorts, whose full complement was one thousand men, were stationed at Cćsarea.
principal men of the city--both Jews and Romans. "This was the most dignified and influential audience Paul had yet addressed, and the prediction (
Acts 9:15) was fulfilled, though afterwards still more remarkably at Rome (
Acts 27:24;
2Tim 4:16-17) [WEBSTER and WILKINSON].
26 I have no certain--"definite"
thing to write my lord--Nero. "The writer's accuracy should be remarked here. It would have been . . . a mistake to apply this term ("lord") to the emperor a few years earlier. Neither Augustus nor Tiberius would let himself be so called, as implying the relation of master and slave. But it had now come (rather, "was coming") into use as one of the imperial titles" [HACKET].